This Week, We ‘Ave Mostly Been Playing… #8

Finally, the ridiculous hot weather in the UK has subsided, and that means we’ve been able to play games without feeling like we’re about to burst into flames. Yay!

We’ve had a smattering of new games this week, but mostly, we’re making the most of the relative quiet until Games Season kicks off and keeps us inundated with new releases. Here’s what we’ve had on our PCs and consoles this week.

Want to get in touch and let us know what you’ve been playing this week? Tweet us @game_spew. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Rich: Madden NFL 19 ate up most of last weekend for me. More of an evolution rather than a revolution for the series, it doesn’t differ too much from last year’s version, but the continuation of the Longshot story mode really disappoints. I mixed in a little Diablo 3 as well, trying out some new wizard builds. I always find time for Diablo.

Moving into the week, I’ve spent some time with F1 2018, which appears to successfully build upon its predecessor. And with Manual Samuel now available on Nintendo Switch, I’ve reacquainted myself with Samuel’s hapless antics. I’m looking forward to playing more of them this weekend, as well as one or two other titles that I can’t really mention anything about yet. Ooo…

Madden NFL 19

Kim: With Onrush finally getting Ranked Mode, I’ve jumped back into its crazy races to see how its changed. It feels good to have more of a reason to play, but the update seems to have unsettled the servers – I spent too much time waiting to be matched and soon lost patience. Of course, Diablo 3 also got a bit more play time, but now with my season character at Paragon Level 300-and-something, any notable improvements are few and far between.

I also started We Happy Few. You can read Chris’ review here. I’m only a few hours in and I’m playing on easy, so I haven’t had too much trouble finding crafting materials (yet). The gameplay isn’t remarkable, but I’ve very much been enjoying the marvellous setting.

We Happy Few

Matt: Most of my time this week has put into Death’s Gambit, which has proven to be delightfully challenging and fun. I’ll be putting some more hours into it before writing a review in the coming few days. Other than that, I’m still on the grind for my upgraded Solstice Armour in Destiny 2. I’m really just counting the days till Forsaken though…

Death’s Gambit

Chris: I’m still sailing my way through Black Flag and am increasingly resenting the real world sections that tear me away from the serious, and wonderful, business of piracy. I also played We Happy Few on the Xbox, having bought the preview edition way back when. It runs more smoothly than the PC version, which I reviewed, but I lack the patience to keep going. The crafting system became an imposition, barring my progress through the main quest line because I hadn’t collected enough lockpick components.

Aside from that, I’ve been delving into the world of Graveyard Keeper, which I’ll be reviewing shortly. It’s the polar opposite of A Mortician’s Tale in tone, featuring a tutorial that openly encourages you to hack flesh from a corpse with the intention of selling it to your local landlord as a cheap source of meat. Yummy.

Graveyard Keeper

Becca: Telltale is back at it again with its final season of their most successful series, The Walking Dead. This week I played the first episode, Done Running. I had some issues with it, but still really enjoyed it and am excited to for episode 2’s release. Along with this I’ve also spent some time with Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, the bomb diffusal game that has just recently released on all consoles. It’s fast-paced and nerve wracking, but great fun to play with lots of friend.

When I had a moment to load up my PS4 I downloaded this month’s free PS Plus games, so I’ve also been playing Knowledge is Power and Dead by Daylight. Knowledge is Power is a cute trivia game, and it’s quite a lot of fun. Dead by Daylight is a game I’ve dabbled with on PC but most of my friends play on PlayStation so I was ecstatic to give it a proper go. My conclusion? I’m way too much a scaredy cat to ever play survivor so I only play the killer. Simple solution to a simple problem.

Dead By Daylight

Jack: Did you know there was a WoW expansion out this week? Well, that’s pretty much all I’ve been playing this week. I played a lot of Monster Hunter World on PC over the weekend and at the beginning of the week for my review, but Battle For Azeroth pretty much has me in its grip now. The levelling experience was a real treat. For once I took it relatively slowly instead of rushing to max level and have been able to admire a lot more about the levelling experience than previously. I levelled through as my elemental Shaman with a couple of friends, and can’t wait to go back through the zones again – an early indicator on how much I may come to enjoy an expansion throughout its tenure.